Dozens of arrests days before Belarus` presidential election :: Charter'97 :: News

Police in Belarus made dozens of arrests in the last few days before Sunday`s presidential election.

In Vitebsk, the court of Pervomaisky district sentenced human rights Valery Shchukin to seven days in jail on a "petty hooliganism" charge on March 16.

On March 15, the court of Vitbebsk`s Oktyabrsky district imposed a 7-day jail sentence on youth activist Vitaly Brovka on the same charge. Both were arrested by police officers and accused of speaking obscenities.

On March 17, Vitebsk police arrested observers Konstantin Smolikov and charged him with resisting arrest. Mr. Smolikov was sentenced to four days in jail later the same day.

On the same day, officers in Gorodok, Vitebsk region, arrested Leonid Gorovoi, a campaigner for opposition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich accusing him of "resistance to police officers." Mr. Gorovoi was to stand trial on Saturday.

Nine Milinkevich campaigners and one campaigner for opposition candidate Aleksandr Kozulin were detained in Gomel, Mozyr and Rechitsa on March 17. Five of them were jailed for seven to 10 days on charges of "petty hooliganism" or "resistance to police."

Vladimir Telepukhin and Denis Vanyushkin in Mozyr were slapped with five-day sentences, Vladimir Shitikov in Gomel received 10 days, Yury Zakharenko in Gomel was sentenced to seven days, Andrei Tolchin in Gomel was jailed for eight days, and Oleg Shabetnik in Rechitsa was taken into custody on March 17 pending trial expected on Monday.

Vladimir Katsora, head of the Milinkevich campaign office in Gomel, was arrested on the evening on March 18 and is still held in custody allegedly for obscenities.

All members of the Milinkevich campaign team in Brest - Stepan Novoselchanin, the candidate`s authorized representative; Dmitry Shimansky, head of the city campaign office; Grigory Bakiyevich, secretary of the regional campaign office; human rights defender Vladimir Velichkin; Yury Gubarevich, head of the regional campaign office; and activists Andrei Karpuk, Dmitry Filipchuk and Yevgeny Prokurat - have been arrested and are in custody in Brest.

Mr. Velichkin has been sentenced to five days on a "petty hooliganism" charge.

Dmitry Polaiko, a Milinkevich campaign activist in Baranovichi, was jailed for three days on March 17.

The police also arrested three journalists - Sergei Nerovny, editor-in-chief of the Volny Gorad in Krichev, Mogilyov region; Andrei Shantarovich, editor-in-chief of the Mestnaya Gazeta in Volkovysk, Grodno region; and Ivan Roman of the Salidarnasts online in Minsk.

Four Russian journalists - Aleksei Novosyolov, Andrei Khachaturov, Aleksandr Galmakov and Dmitry Volov, all working for the newspaper Pravoye Delo, -- were expelled from Gomel on March 18.

The police have stripped Russian political analyst Vladimir Suzdaltsev of his Belarus residence permit. Mr. Suzdaltsev, who has lived in Belarus since 1993, told BelaPAN he is likely to be deported from the country next week.

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